Expanding your business internationally is amazing goal to aim towards. Once you’re established in the UK market and making a substantial profit, taking your business global is the natural next step on the road to success and hold lots of exciting opportunities for your business.
Here’s a few tips to help make your international venture a success:
Research global markets
By researching different markets overseas you’ll soon get an idea for where’s best to target. Some places have a very similar target market to UK businesses, the US for example, whereas other countries such as Japan have a hugely different consumer base so your product may not work as well there. By researching different global markets you’ll be able to start by targeting the perfect audience for your product.
Be serious about expanding
International customer, shipping and delivery problems mean that it’s important to have someone in the UK available for customers to speak to in their working hours. If the country you’re trading with operate on a different time zone then making sure you have staff available to speak with them within those hours is essential. This might mean employing new members of staff or changing your current working hours to reflect this.
Adapt
To crack some global markets you might need to adapt the way you market your business. Traditional UK marketing strategies might not work abroad so it’s important that you find out what works for local businesses overseas and try to mirror their approach. Despite this, it’s important to retain your brand image and company ethos, just adapt the way you approaching advertising and marketing.
Invest in your resources
Going global means your shipping and delivery needs to be up to scratch. Using a courier service that has experience of international shipping like TNT means that you can relax in the knowledge that your deliveries will arrive on time and in perfect condition. TNT have knowledge of delivering to different countries globally so you don’t have to worry about what you can/can’t export and they’ll manage your whole delivery process for you.
With the amount of people online shopping overseas in the current climate, there is no reason why your venture won’t be a success if you put a lot of hard work in. If you’re worried about whether taking your business abroad is worth the risk, following these steps will help to ensure your international expansion goes smoothly.
